His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And We certainly gave Ibrahim his sound judgment before, and We were knowing of him". "When he said to his father and his people, 'What are these statues to which you are devoted?'". "They said, 'We found our forefathers worshipping them.'". "He said, 'Indeed, you and your forefathers have been in manifest error.'". "They said, 'Have you come to us with truth, or are you among the idle?'". "He said, 'Rather, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them, and I am of those who testify to that.'". "And by Allah, I will surely plan against your idols after you have turned and gone away.'". "So he made them into fragments, except for a large one among them, that perhaps they would return to it."

The sound judgment is general in its guidance towards rejecting idols, and in its guidance regarding the matter of the star, the sun, and the moon, and other than that from prophethood and what is beneath it. Some of them said its meaning is: he was guided towards good when he was small, and all of this is close in meaning. And His saying, glorified is He: "before" means: before Musa and Harun, peace be upon them. Thus, in this addition, it is before as it is in relation to Nuh, peace be upon him. And His saying, exalted is He: "And We were knowing of him" is praise for Ibrahim, peace be upon him, meaning that he deserves what he was qualified for. This is similar to His saying, exalted is He: "Allah knows best where He places His message" [Al-An'am: 124]. The operative in "when" is His saying: "We gave." And "the statues" refers to the idols; because they were in the form of a human made of wood, and "devotion" means remaining attached to something. And His saying: "who created them" is an expression as if they have understanding, and this is in terms of their obedience and submission, and they have been described in places with what is described to one who has understanding.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And by Allah, I will surely plan against..." the verse. It has been narrated that they had a festival, and a group among them decided to invite Ibrahim, peace be upon him, hoping that he would appreciate something from their news. So he walked with them, and when he was on the way, he resolved to stay behind them, so he sat down and said to them: "Indeed, I am sick." Then their majority passed by him. Then he said in solitude to himself: "And by Allah, I will surely plan against your idols," and some of the weak among them who were walking at the end of the people heard him. And His saying: "after you have turned and gone away" means: to their festival. Then Ibrahim, peace be upon him, returned to the house of their idols alone, and he entered with an axe. He found the idols standing, the largest of them first, then the one next to it, then the one next to it. They had placed their offerings on that day before the idols as a means of blessing, so that they would return from that festival to eating it. So he, peace be upon him, began to cut them with that axe and smash them until he ruined all their shapes, except for the large one, for he left it as it was and hung the axe from its hand and exited from them. And "fragments" means small pieces, and "the act of cutting" is the cutting. The majority read: "fragments" with a dammah on the jim, and Al-Kisai alone read it with a kasrah, and Ibn Abbas, Abu Nahik, and Abu al-Samak read it with a fatha, and these are dialects, and the meaning is one.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So He made them" is a treatment of the idols as if they were those who understand, in that they were worshipped and are placed in the position of those who understand. The pronoun in "to Him" clearly indicates that it refers back to Ibrahim, peace be upon him, meaning that he did all of this with the intention that there would be a return from them to him and to his law. It is possible that the pronoun refers back to the broken idol, but that is weakened by the presence of the hope in the speech.